Morro Bay & Port San Luis

Most of the diving here is done from small boats. Divers trailer them to the Port San Luis Harbor at Avila, where a sling lifts each boat off its trailer, or to the launch ramp in Morro Bay Harbor, then run out to the pinnacles and reefs along the coast between the two. A few sites are within reach on foot, around Morro Bay and at Spooner's Cove on a calm day. Two dive shops are based in San Luis Obispo: Depth Perceptions Diving Services on Los Osos Valley Road, on the Central Coast since 1987, and SLO Ocean Currents.

Underwater the coast is rock and kelp. Offshore pinnacles rise to within about 5 to 8 m (15 to 25 ft) of the surface: Souza Rock falls to around 37 m (120 ft), and Westdhal Rock spreads as a field of jagged tops. Santa Rosa Reef is a tabletop at 6–9 m with a sheer wall on one side. Lingcod, cabezon and kelp bass hold on the rock at White Rock. Inside Morro Bay, Target Rock is a shallow dive at 3–8 m, and timed with the tide it becomes a long drift from the harbour entrance.

It suits cold-water divers with their own boat or kayak who are happy to plan around the weather, which changes quickly along this coast, and to keep clear of the security zone around the Diablo nuclear plant. The water sits at 7–13 °C depending on the time of year, so extra thermal protection may be needed. Most divers in the San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay area know very little about these sites, and the difficult access keeps diving pressure low.